Hillary Clinton: Robots Are Not Our Friends

Attribution: Gage Skidmore

On Wednesday, the former secretary of state of the United States said that robots are not our friends.

Hillary Clinton informed Hugh Hewitt, a radio host, that America is racing headfirst into a world of artificial intelligence without considering the possible consequences.

“Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, a lot of really smart people are sounding an alarm that we’re not hearing,” said Clinton. “The future is coming right at us, and honest to goodness, I just think everybody listening to you should be demanding that public officials start coming up with some approaches to how we’re going to protect human beings and our lives from this.”

She expressed particular concern regarding the loss of jobs because of the automation and the potential increase of surveillance that are associated with the internet of things such as home assistants and Smart TVs.

Bill Gates has discussed his concerns over the loss of jobs that will come as a consequence of advancing technology. He has suggested that robots who take the place of humans in the workplace should be subject to income tax.

Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, has suggested that the increase of artificial intelligence could result to a World War III. He said: “I have exposure to the very, most cutting-edge AI, and I think people should be really concerned about it,” he warned at the 2017 National Governors Association Meeting. “I keep sounding the alarm bell, but until people see, like, robots going down the street killing people, they don’t know how to react because it seems so ethereal.”

Stephen Hawking has stated that he worries that robots will eventually replace humanity.

While the possibility of a society that is run by robots is terrifying, it is likely far-off concern. On the other hand, the automation of jobs is already happening.

A Ball State University study discovered that between the period of 2000 and 2010, almost 87 percent of manufacturing job losses came from a rise in automation and better technology. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers 38 percent of jobs in the United States could be lost to automation in the next 15 years.

The Republican tax plan is possible to pass in the Senate next week. It incentivises business owners to replace jobs with automation by offering them tax breaks for new equipment.

Clinton asked: “What do we do with the millions of people who will no longer have a job?”

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